question

Submitted by keith on 5/2/02. ( ) 128.115.149.14

looking at a waterfowl carcas the other day I noticed that when held upright the breast area sagged making the underside of the breast very flat. This also exposed more of the rib cage. does this happen on live waterfowl?

Yes

This response submitted by George on 5/2/02. ( georoof@aol.com ) 152.163.188.199

The physiology is more evident on domesticated ducks which often led to the World War II term of a "ruptured duck". The term "shooting a sitting duck" isn't nearly all it's cracked up to be. A duck on water has most of it's vitals underneath the water line because of this characteristic and only a shot in the head or through the lung area will kill it, though the lung area takes somewhat longer usually.